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"48 Hours Mystery:" Show Me the Money

Strapped with Dynamite, a Woman Robs a Bank to Save her Daughter Held Hostage by a Team of Gunmen

2009Oct 03

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A relaxing evening at home quickly turned into a night of terror for bank manager Michelle Renee when three masked gunmen burst into her Vista, Calif., home and took her and her 7-year-old daughter, Breea, hostage. But this was no random break-in.

Michelle, a 35-year-old divorced mother, was the assistant vice president at a local branch of Bank of America... and the gunmen knew exactly who she was and where she worked.

Strapped with dynamite, she was forced to the rob bank where she worked to save her daughter. But was Michelle really the victim, or the mastermind of the crime? "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

"We had gotten home right around 6:30, the sun was setting, and we were getting ready to go into the house and make homemade pizzas," Michelle Renee explained.

"I was a single mother and my daughter loved when we got to spend time together. We decided to sit down on the couch and play some Game Boy to unwind from the day.

"And then everything was completely shattered in one blink of an eye.

"The backdoor to our house just came crashing in with a sound that is completely indescribable. There were three men all dressed in black and masks, rushing towards us, SWAT style, in a line.

"They grabbed us, threw us to the floor… one man was on my back, guns to my head, and the duct tape started to unroll and rip.

"My daughter was out of sight, couldn't hear her, didn't know what was going on, and I was screaming for our life.